"It's a good spot for Tiffany in the way they play and Angel McCoughtry [the USA Olympian] is a good player to play with," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said.

The 12 first-round picks included three Tennessee players, including often injured center Kelley Cain, who was taken seventh by New York. Notre Dame's Devereaux Peters was the third overall pick, by the Minnesota Lynx, and guard Natalie Novosel went 10th to Washington. Nnemkadi Ogwumike of Stanford was picked No. 1 by the Los Angeles Sparks.

Two international centers, Astan Dabo of Mali (Connecticut Sun) and Damaris Dantis of Brazil (Minnesota) were taken as investments in the future.

"I am excited about going to play there," Hayes said of Atlanta. "It really didn't matter where I went. All I need is a shot. They are an up-tempo team and playing at UConn helps you with that.

"Getting the chance to play in Atlanta, which is so close to where I grew up [in Lakeland, Fla.] is one of the most exciting things about this. I was hoping that's where I would go, and it is definitely a blessing for me. I am happy for my family because I know they are thrilled, too."

Hayes didn't seem to care that she wasn't a first-round pick. After all, there are only 12 in the WNBA.

"It was more important to be in a good situation," Hayes said. "The teams that had picks in the first two rounds were all stacked; it would have been hard to make those teams. Hopefully, I can build a steady home here.

"And I can definitely look to Kalana Greene [of the Connecticut Sun] for advice [about being a second-round pick]. She turned it into a great thing for her."

Hayes was joined at the draft by her mother, younger brother, Auriemma and UConn teammates Kelly Faris, Heather Buck and Caroline Doty.

Hayes was a third-team All-American and a finalist for the Wade and Wooden awards. She was a Big East first-team pick and played in Final Fours in each of her four seasons, including UConn's unbeaten national champions in her freshman and sophomore seasons.

She will go to a team coached by one of Auriemma's Olympic assistants, Marynell Meadors. The Dream, fueled by McCoughtry and Sancho Lyttle, are one of the most aggressive offensive teams in the league.

"We've been to two straight WNBA Finals, we know how to get there," said Meadors. "But the next step is to win it, and in order to do that, we have to improve. That means getting better defensively.

"We score a lot, but we give up too many points, too. We've got to get stops. And when we get into tight games, we need to make those freebies. We have to improve our free-throw percentage. If we can get those two areas shored up, we're going go for that next step — the WNBA championship."

Hayes led the Huskies with 177 free throws and shot 80.8 percent, third on the team. She also shot 40.7 percent from three and averaged 14.7 points.

Hayes had said a few weeks ago that she felt her talents would best serve a team that played like UConn does.

"I think I am a role player and it will definitely be good for me to look up to a player like Angel," Hayes said.